Over the years I've watched hundreds, if not thousands of instructional videos on stroke technique. For the amateur tennis player--perhaps even advanced players--yours are superb. Thank you.
Another no nonsense show and tell...not sitting back and analyzing strokes from other pros. She actually demos it biomenchanically well with speed and clear illustrations. Thank you.
I started to play tennis a year ago. Wish I saw your video first, I’m just now discovering how to properly hit a forehand. Great and clear description of every step.
Thanks Coach Babel 🙏 appreciate greatly!! One of the young male Pros , I can't remember his name, said he was in Vegas recently got to hit with Graf, said he had never seen anyone hit a cleaner ball! That's an amazing statement!!
Very well said.. Thanks for this video. I will try this..feels like my forehand was fixed already..can't wait to see the court and try this..Will give feedback . Stay Safe😊
Sounds funny to say, but your tip about starting the takeback loop at different heights depending on the incoming ball was quite a revelation for me. I might have been doing that naturally *sometimes,* but thinking about it consciously since watching this video has been super helpful. Great video thanks so much Meike!
Appreciate the breakdown of the forehand 👍 There's always a seemingly minor point such as (wrist pointing to ball-not just butt cap-or not forcing takeback) that could make a difference in the forehand- Thank-you!
as a 3.0 rec player trying to improve, this sequential summary of fundamentals is really helpful, it even got me off of the couch and shadow swinging before I can get out on the court next lol and thanks.
Roll yes snap no. THANK YOU . There are so many instructors who teach the forehand wrong. I won't give his last name but there's an instructor named Peter who has his students breaking their wrist on contact. I want to shout at the screen. You and Rick Macci should work together. Fantastic video you're as good as any instructor on You Tube.
What an excellent piece of advice ! My little boy doesn’t know how to use his left arm properly in tennis, but he definitely understands how to use his left arm when surfing! I will use your strategy on him. Thank you very much!
Concur, Meike. Great lesson! I use an Eastern; because, the feel I have when I go to Continental for my volleys doesn’t feel as drastic from Western or Semi Western to Continental. I also agree with you about footwork - usually, when my strokes break down, it’s because, my footwork failed; hence, that’s the first thing I check - am I flat-footed? Am I taking small little steps before I set for impact? If my sneakers ain’t squeaking, it usually means they’re sleepin’; and , I ain’t movin’ to position myself for clean contact and allowing my arm to extend out for my lag-n-roll, and getting my body out of the way for clean contact. Yes, I agree with you regarding a tight grip. After footwork, I check if I’m white-knuckling my grip. In the heat of battle, I forget to relax, and I know I’m tight in my arms when I notice my follow-through is cramped into my body rather than being fully extended and naturally rolling to my left side of my body. Yes, I never liked that term, “snap”. I see many players at the club, slapping the ball, as a result of their understanding of the word, “snap”. Keep up the great videos. I’m still viewing your awesome library. /s/ Alfonso Faustino
I am pleased considering this is my first year back to tennis. I will send you a link of my just uploaded UA-cam video. Thanks for your great coaching!
I now do the racquet drop and drive forward at the same time instead of sperate them into two sequencial move. that same a lot of time and i got better prepare of my forehand.
Thanks for this video. To my eye, Graf and Agassi seem like ideal models to copy. Unfortunately, I find myself on SW - close to full Western Grip. So I cannot copy completely but can look at other fundamentals like how they move etc.
Two of the best forehands ever for sure. Yes, with a different grip you will have a different swing Path and contact point. But as you say you can copy other things
Dear Mieke: thanks for your videos… although I didn’t learn anything new from your videos, but your do remind me a lot things I learned and forgot… yes your video is super helpful. Can you talk about grip size a bit more when you talk how to hold a racquet? Honestly I can hold l2-l5 and no matter which one I hold, there is always a gap between palm and fingers. L2 is easy for me to find and adjust to eastern backhand grip… l3 is a bit difficult and my knuckles always hold to edge instead of flat on 12oclock. If I switch to l4 or l5, the position is right again. But l2 is so easy to slip racquet from serve…. L5 is so hard to serve or shbh, but so great,in forhand…..it seems there are just trade off of benefits between grip sizes.
Wow, great content Coach Babel! I’m new to your channel, but having seen so many UA-cam tennis videos I can state that this is one of the very best out there! No nonsense and great tips with amazing demonstrations as well. A quick question, the racquet drop - it seems the modern forehand had a more significant drop (like yours when you are shadow swing) but the NextGen forehand there is very little drop and the racquet head path is much more parallel. Can you talk about how much drop you’d like to see? Thanks and I’ve subscribed!
Nicely done, Meike. You covered everything to eventually hit winners. I couldn't help but notice that your hand is almost completely wrapped around the grip with little or no space space between the tips of your fingers and the heel of your hand. I know the trend is moving towards a smaller grip size. And that's fine for some players. But when you were on tour, it seems like the racquet grips were larger. What is your grip size now, and have you changed it since your tour days? Just curious. Great work!
Great observation! I'm actually one size smaller now, I'm a 2. When I played on tour I played with 3's. And it is true, the 2 does allow you to swing faster.
I saw a video about a month or so ago saying the "loop" was outdated and almost fell out of my chair -- Gonzalez, Federer, Del Potro and all the way to Alcaraz or Rublev all have a great loop on their forehand (with a bit of flair to match their individual styles) and are known for having monster forehands.
@@tennnis498 Fed’s “loop” gets him to the racquet drop position, but has no gravitational contribution to the forward motion part of the stroke. Fed could take the racquet straight back without a loop to the same racquet drop position and his forward motion acceleration would be no different. It’s not the same type of loop as eg Gonzalez’s.
I disagree with that. Call it modified loop or c-shape or whatever. They all have the racket head above the wrist on the take back and then let it drop below the wrist.
Halló Meike. I recently discovered your channel (and obviously subscribed 😊) and fount it súper instructive. Being able to get coached by a former top 100 is amazing! One question I have is about how relaxed the wrist should be during the preparation (taking racket back), during the motion forward (where the lag occurs) and during contact. It seems like the pros have the wrist relaxed. Btw. I am a 2.5 or so recreational level willing to improve.
Hi there and welcome on board. Yes, the warm/ hand/ wrist should be relaxed. One of my childhood coaches always said to hold the racket as loose/ tight as you would hold a little bird in your hand. Too loose and it flies away, too hard... well, you can imagine.
@@MeikeBabelTennis wow!! Thanks for answering Meike. That bird strength even at contact point? I tried to loosen the wrist but felt lack of control. The racket strings ended up pointing in random directions. I will keep on trying and thanks a lot for answering. 😀😀
Hi @MeikeBabelTennis I tried loosing up the wrist following your tip and voala, I am hitting better forehands, much better. This was an eye opener. Thanks a lot again!
Great tipps. What do you think about raising an elbow a little bit during preparation? It helped me to keep good distance between a racquet and my body (sometimes i tend do be to close to the body with my racquet).
Great video as ever, very understandable. I'm interested in the tool you use in the lock in position : what is it called and where I can find it? Thanks
Hey Maike, great video, keep rewatching. Could you please explain - how stance affects "leading shoulder in front" checkpoint, I mean, for closed stance in feels off
Nice checkpoints. Question, in the loading position, what moves first? I've been told that I have a tendency to rotate my hips much quicker than my hands and I am open well before contact. He told me to move your hands (arm) first then follow with the hips. Ugh.
Why I still can't finish with the back of my hand facing myself naturally or I need to force my arm and wrist to do that way? I have already loosen up my hand.
I think that it is just a preference to some and not others. I'm a beginner and I love playing with western grip. There are some inaccurate myths around the western grip as well. I have no problems getting to the low balls with western.
Mostly no.4 or semi western for beginners, I trained for a few months with this & now just swiched to no.3 or Eastern forehand. Federer's grip. Hitting with more power slightly less topspin and still consistent when I rally 😎 I use a 1 handed backhand with eastern grip no.1
Naturally i play full western grip, i feel very comfortable with it and i also can generate enough power. For me the most important tip and challenge is to keep the arm and wrist relaxed, so if you do this it will come easy that "wrist lag/snap etc." or whatever people call it. When i hit relaxed, even if the ball goes out i fell that i did something good and i am on the good road :).
Over the years I've watched hundreds, if not thousands of instructional videos on stroke technique. For the amateur tennis player--perhaps even advanced players--yours are superb. Thank you.
Thank you so much for those very kind words!
Another no nonsense show and tell...not sitting back and analyzing strokes from other pros. She actually demos it biomenchanically well with speed and clear illustrations. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Your forehand is the best I've ever watched in women , after the goat Serena
I started to play tennis a year ago. Wish I saw your video first, I’m just now discovering how to properly hit a forehand. Great and clear description of every step.
Excellent instruction. One of the best videos available on UA-cam!
“Don’t snap” , this is never mentioned in many trainings, you are the best … thank you 👍👍
Great video Meike! Thank you for sharing fundamentals.
Naturally, we need the similar video for backhand, volley and serve! :)
It’s on the list to film, all of the above :)
This is the best and most accurate forehead instruction video I’ve seen . Thanks
Finally someone making sense! This video is about a solid foundation…Thanks!
Thanks Coach Babel 🙏 appreciate greatly!! One of the young male Pros , I can't remember his name, said he was in Vegas recently got to hit with Graf, said he had never seen anyone hit a cleaner ball! That's an amazing statement!!
She is such a great player and I think you'd have to blindfold her for her to ever shank a ball!
@@MeikeBabelTennis 🙏❤️‼️
This is the best instruction I’ve encountered (including in person sessions I’ve had/seen). Well done! Thank you for sharing your skills!
Very well said.. Thanks for this video. I will try this..feels like my forehand was fixed already..can't wait to see the court and try this..Will give feedback . Stay Safe😊
Great video Coach Bebel. All steps explained very clearly. Very useful for beginners as well as middle level players. Thank you 👍
You’re welcome! That’s what I was hoping to accomplish
Sounds funny to say, but your tip about starting the takeback loop at different heights depending on the incoming ball was quite a revelation for me. I might have been doing that naturally *sometimes,* but thinking about it consciously since watching this video has been super helpful. Great video thanks so much Meike!
Makes me happy to hear that I could help!
Appreciate the breakdown of the forehand 👍 There's always a seemingly minor point such as (wrist pointing to ball-not just butt cap-or not forcing takeback) that could make a difference in the forehand- Thank-you!
as a 3.0 rec player trying to improve, this sequential summary of fundamentals is really helpful, it even got me off of the couch and shadow swinging before I can get out on the court next lol and thanks.
That’s is awesome to hear, that’s exactly what I’m hoping to accomplish with my videos!
I like the split-view. Amazing the clarity you have.
Thank you! I thought I’d give it a try and I’ve gotten good feedback
Roll yes snap no. THANK YOU . There are so many instructors who teach the forehand wrong. I won't give his last name but there's an instructor named Peter who has his students breaking their wrist on contact. I want to shout at the screen. You and Rick Macci should work together.
Fantastic video you're as good as any instructor on You Tube.
I truly like the way You explain the forehand technique, quite simple but with a deep insight. Nice
just watched your video , and want to say THANK YOU to you. it's really a good comprehensive video !
having the left arm out front like a surfer ,,, for balance has improved my game 100% ,,,game changer
What an excellent piece of advice ! My little boy doesn’t know how to use his left arm properly in tennis, but he definitely understands how to use his left arm when surfing! I will use your strategy on him. Thank you very much!
Concur, Meike. Great lesson!
I use an Eastern; because, the feel I have when I go to Continental for my volleys doesn’t feel as drastic from Western or Semi Western to Continental.
I also agree with you about footwork - usually, when my strokes break down, it’s because, my footwork failed; hence, that’s the first thing I check - am I flat-footed? Am I taking small little steps before I set for impact? If my sneakers ain’t squeaking, it usually means they’re sleepin’; and , I ain’t movin’ to position myself for clean contact and allowing my arm to extend out for my lag-n-roll, and getting my body out of the way for clean contact.
Yes, I agree with you regarding a tight grip. After footwork, I check if I’m white-knuckling my grip. In the heat of battle, I forget to relax, and I know I’m tight in my arms when I notice my follow-through is cramped into my body rather than being fully extended and naturally rolling to my left side of my body.
Yes, I never liked that term, “snap”. I see many players at the club, slapping the ball, as a result of their understanding of the word, “snap”.
Keep up the great videos. I’m still viewing your awesome library.
/s/ Alfonso Faustino
Vielen Dank Meike. Absoult wertvolle Basics! Besser kann mans nicht erklären.
This is the best forehand video for beginners
You are a godsend. Thank you, immeasurably for this video
I'm glad you found it helpful!
This is such a good video that explains the fundamentals.
Coach Babel has go to be the most fun tennis pro to get lessons from. Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Come to Brazil and do a clinic! =)
I love Steffi!!! She was my first favorite tennis player!!
She was my heroine too
Meike, thanks for reviewing fundamentals, great video!
Thanks BJ! How are all your shots coming along?
I am pleased considering this is my first year back to tennis. I will send you a link of my just uploaded UA-cam video. Thanks for your great coaching!
I now do the racquet drop and drive forward at the same time instead of sperate them into two sequencial move. that same a lot of time and i got better prepare of my forehand.
Great!
this lady is no joke... no dog and pony show... Real
Excellent, excellent instruction. Thank you!
The forearm pronation in the forehand is seldom mentioned yet I think it’s crucial to hit a modern forehand.
Thank you Maam SA tuturial!
Thank you
Thanks for this video. To my eye, Graf and Agassi seem like ideal models to copy. Unfortunately, I find myself on SW - close to full Western Grip. So I cannot copy completely but can look at other fundamentals like how they move etc.
Two of the best forehands ever for sure. Yes, with a different grip you will have a different swing Path and contact point. But as you say you can copy other things
Dear Mieke: thanks for your videos… although I didn’t learn anything new from your videos, but your do remind me a lot things I learned and forgot… yes your video is super helpful.
Can you talk about grip size a bit more when you talk how to hold a racquet? Honestly I can hold l2-l5 and no matter which one I hold, there is always a gap between palm and fingers.
L2 is easy for me to find and adjust to eastern backhand grip… l3 is a bit difficult and my knuckles always hold to edge instead of flat on 12oclock. If I switch to l4 or l5, the position is right again. But l2 is so easy to slip racquet from serve…. L5 is so hard to serve or shbh, but so great,in forhand…..it seems there are just trade off of benefits between grip sizes.
Best Video for beginners ever!
Just discovered your channel. Your content is fantastic, thank you!
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks for the instruction video, so helpful.
Great video and tips!
Glad you liked it!
Perfect Tennis ABC... Thank you
Glad you like it!
Fundamentals are important !
Wow, great content Coach Babel! I’m new to your channel, but having seen so many UA-cam tennis videos I can state that this is one of the very best out there! No nonsense and great tips with amazing demonstrations as well. A quick question, the racquet drop - it seems the modern forehand had a more significant drop (like yours when you are shadow swing) but the NextGen forehand there is very little drop and the racquet head path is much more parallel. Can you talk about how much drop you’d like to see? Thanks and I’ve subscribed!
Youre a good player. Great video!
Thanks!
Nicely done, Meike. You covered everything to eventually hit winners. I couldn't help but notice that your hand is almost completely wrapped around the grip with little or no space space between the tips of your fingers and the heel of your hand. I know the trend is moving towards a smaller grip size. And that's fine for some players. But when you were on tour, it seems like the racquet grips were larger. What is your grip size now, and have you changed it since your tour days? Just curious. Great work!
Great observation! I'm actually one size smaller now, I'm a 2. When I played on tour I played with 3's. And it is true, the 2 does allow you to swing faster.
@@MeikeBabelTennis Thank you. You're always on point. And you explain the stroke nuances extraordinarily well. I enjoy your work. Keep posting!
I saw a video about a month or so ago saying the "loop" was outdated and almost fell out of my chair -- Gonzalez, Federer, Del Potro and all the way to Alcaraz or Rublev all have a great loop on their forehand (with a bit of flair to match their individual styles) and are known for having monster forehands.
Federer does not have a loop on his forehand.
Federer has a loop.
@@tennnis498 Fed’s “loop” gets him to the racquet drop position, but has no gravitational contribution to the forward motion part of the stroke. Fed could take the racquet straight back without a loop to the same racquet drop position and his forward motion acceleration would be no different. It’s not the same type of loop as eg Gonzalez’s.
I wonder where you saw the video.
I disagree with that. Call it modified loop or c-shape or whatever. They all have the racket head above the wrist on the take back and then let it drop below the wrist.
Thanks for the complete guidance
You're welcome!
Halló Meike. I recently discovered your channel (and obviously subscribed 😊) and fount it súper instructive.
Being able to get coached by a former top 100 is amazing!
One question I have is about how relaxed the wrist should be during the preparation (taking racket back), during the motion forward (where the lag occurs) and during contact.
It seems like the pros have the wrist relaxed.
Btw. I am a 2.5 or so recreational level willing to improve.
Hi there and welcome on board. Yes, the warm/ hand/ wrist should be relaxed. One of my childhood coaches always said to hold the racket as loose/ tight as you would hold a little bird in your hand. Too loose and it flies away, too hard... well, you can imagine.
@@MeikeBabelTennis wow!! Thanks for answering Meike. That bird strength even at contact point?
I tried to loosen the wrist but felt lack of control. The racket strings ended up pointing in random directions.
I will keep on trying and thanks a lot for answering. 😀😀
Hi @MeikeBabelTennis I tried loosing up the wrist following your tip and voala, I am hitting better forehands, much better. This was an eye opener. Thanks a lot again!
Great video, very helpful!
Maybe not the right place to say so, but let me wish you a merry Christmas and a happy festive season as well a great year 2023.
That is absolutely the right place and it's very much appreciated. The same to you!
I want you to be my master! Wonderful teaching Meike..
Thank you, very helpful!!!
Great FH 🎾 tips. 👍👏🙏
Glad you enjoyed!
SUPERB! Got me to believe I can do better.
Nice video coach!
Thank you ❤
great video thank you so very much
Great video. Thanks
Thanks, you're the best!
You're welcome! And thank you!
Awesome vid!
Great tipps. What do you think about raising an elbow a little bit during preparation? It helped me to keep good distance between a racquet and my body (sometimes i tend do be to close to the body with my racquet).
For that particular problem that's a good fix.
Great video as ever, very understandable. I'm interested in the tool you use in the lock in position : what is it called and where I can find it? Thanks
It's the Topspinpro. If you email me at meike@meikebabel.com I can give you a discount code
Thank you. GREAT VIDEO. Can you share what is the training aid used in your video?
Thank you! It's called the TopspinPro and if you email me at meike@meikebabel.com I can give you discount link for you to save money.
Subscribed and Liked!
Thank you for your kind comments on my videos and welcome on board!
Excellent
Hey Maike, great video, keep rewatching.
Could you please explain - how stance affects "leading shoulder in front" checkpoint, I mean, for closed stance in feels off
Hi great video will you be able to make a video with tips to play with a western forehand
Thank you excellent
Thanks!
Excellent video! Do you offer privates or clinics in the Denver area for juniors?
I don't really unless it's summer camp. Unfortunately, my schedule is already full. www.meikebabel.com/summercamp
good stuff
Thank you!
Super
Snap, if passive will add another level to the speed acceleration.
Active snap is allways detrimental and will kill the pure contact.
Great forehand technic . Where are your location so I try visit you to take lesson
Nice checkpoints. Question, in the loading position, what moves first? I've been told that I have a tendency to rotate my hips much quicker than my hands and I am open well before contact. He told me to move your hands (arm) first then follow with the hips. Ugh.
bravo ......
Hi Meike- just trying to get more power on my forehand but what about hip rotation? Dr. Mark Kovacs and untwisting the coke bottle top?
It is not obvious, but it is logical that there may be in-between grips. For example, between the eastern and semi-western.
An unrelated question: I saw (PR) next to Stan Warinka’s name in the Swiss indoor tournament going on now. What does PR mean?
Protected ranking. If you’re injured longer than a certain time your ranking is frozen and you can use it to enter tournaments
@@MeikeBabelTennis thank you 🙏
Why I still can't finish with the back of my hand facing myself naturally or I need to force my arm and wrist to do that way? I have already loosen up my hand.
U have the same forehand of gustavo kuerten
Why no coach accept the full western grip? Atbeginner level (3.0-4.0) top spin is difficult to manage thus more unforced errors.
I think that it is just a preference to some and not others. I'm a beginner and I love playing with western grip. There are some inaccurate myths around the western grip as well. I have no problems getting to the low balls with western.
Mostly no.4 or semi western for beginners, I trained for a few months with this & now just swiched to no.3 or Eastern forehand. Federer's grip. Hitting with more power slightly less topspin and still consistent when I rally 😎
I use a 1 handed backhand with eastern grip no.1
I think as a beginner, it's more important to focus on clean contact and penetration as opposed to topspin. More conservative grips help with that.
Naturally i play full western grip, i feel very comfortable with it and i also can generate enough power. For me the most important tip and challenge is to keep the arm and wrist relaxed, so if you do this it will come easy that "wrist lag/snap etc." or whatever people call it. When i hit relaxed, even if the ball goes out i fell that i did something good and i am on the good road :).
Meike I'm really sorry I clicked thumbs down by mistake - so sorry :(
No worries!
🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰💵💵💵🎾🎾🎾 plz plz sir
Bigforehand.good.